Aussie Finch Forum

hello everybody I'm new here .
I'm keeping all my finches in the same outdoor aviary.
I'm raising blue faced parrot finches,red headed parrot finches,male paradise whydah,napoleon weavers,star finches,gouldian finches,owl finches,masked finches,male red faced crimson wings,society finches,and of course the golden breasted waxbill.
a few months ago my golden breasted waxbills were mating they built a nest and suddenly one day the male disappeared and i was really upset .a finch keeper gave me for free a new male golden breasted waxbill without fingers in one leg,after a while somebody told me that the male will not be able to mate,so I separated him to another cage and i bought a new beautiful male(2 weeks ago).the new male and the female are grooming each other a lot and they have very good chemistry between them.
can anybody give me tips how to breed them??
i have only nest boxes and don't have any basket nests because some of my birds have very long nails and it's very dangerous for them.i don't think the golden breasted waxbill like the nest boxes and i understood that they really like the basket nests. can anybody tell me what kind of nests are safety except nest boxes?? thanks a lot. a photo of my waxbills

Hi and welcome to the forum , after 5 approved moderator posts more of the forum will become available to you, You will only need to post once and wait for it to be approved to save you time on re typing, only 4 to go now... pete

Hi & Welcome To the Forum

Gold Breasts generally dont nest in Nestboxes.They will usually nest in Cane nests or Brush.They are usually easy to breed.Just dont nest check them as they may desert the nest.The also like maggots and mealworms when they have chicks.

You can trim the nails on the finches if there to long to make it safe to have other nests

thanks guys!,the problem is that i can't catch the birds with a net and cut their nails right now,because the RH parrot finches and masked finches are sitting on their eggs and i don't want to disturb them.
the OB waxbill don't have overgrown nails but the Napoleon weavers have overgrown nails and maybe even other species have overgrown nails too and I didn't notice.
someone has told me that I can buy large basket nest(that suitable to Java sparrows) for them and it will be fine and not dangerous to the birds,you think he is right??

Hi and welcome. Sounds like a brilliant collection!!!
Baskets are usually a secondary choice to brush. Do you have access to any such bushes where you are?
I haven't had a problem with toenails getting caught in baskets - before I trimmed my munias toenails, one of their favourite perches was a basket.this is just my experience though.
Also growing tall grasses/reeds provide good nesting sites. OBs sometimes nest in old weaver nests as well - maybe a good option, as you have napoleons?

thanks a lot ,sorry I didn't understand your question?? what bushes?
so you think i can easily put basket nests without worry to the napoleon weavers?
My napoleon weavers only tie the wires to the bars and to the perches without any shape of a nest.I have one male and two females of Napoleon weaver,the male is already without his beautiful breeding plumage.

arielbergfinch wrote:thanks guys!,the problem is that i can't catch the birds with a net and cut their nails right now,because the RH parrot finches and masked finches are sitting on their eggs and i don't want to disturb them.
the OB waxbill don't have overgrown nails but the Napoleon weavers have overgrown nails and maybe even other species have overgrown nails too and I didn't notice.
someone has told me that I can buy large basket nest(that suitable to Java sparrows) for them and it will be fine and not dangerous to the birds,you think he is right??

Could use a trap..

arielbergfinch wrote:a finch keeper gave me for free a new male golden breasted waxbill without fingers in one leg,after a while somebody told me that the male will not be able to mate,

I have an OB that only has one foot, he gets about the aviary extremely well and has produced young so only having one foot hasnt slowed him down at all.

vettepilot_6 I don't have a trap and I have no idea where I can buy it .

bluebutterfly213,how come your male was mating Successfully with the female with only one leg??? lucky you told me because now I know that it's better to me to save him for myself because it's always good to have another bloodline:) (someone asked me if i can give him the male for free)

Shalom, ve baruch haba.

Firstly, the OBs:
Mine breed mostly in nests they make in brush from grasses, though they will also use small baskets - they seem to like the smallest size available. The bushes Jayburd referred to would be the small, dense trees from which we harvest brush to provide perches and nest sites. They love termites but don't require live food, though I imagine you might be feeding some live food already for the weavers. They are especially likely to breed when I don't want them to, and breed through our (freezing) winter. Earlier this year a clutch came out in minus 7 degrees with icy winds (they survived). They seem to like being in a colony, though they may well produce more young in single pairs. I have seen more than ten birds in a row, all grooming one another, on more than one occasion. in my experience, they like to choose their own mates, but this is just my experience. They all like grooming each other, so this doesn't necessarily mean they are bonded as a pair.
I tried to pick the brightest birds and the dullest birds and put them together to see if I could produce something resembling the naturally occurring subspecies, but they didn't want to play. When I put them all back together, they commenced a breeding frenzy with precisely the partners I didn't want them to have.
Hope this is slightly useful.

Secondly, the toenails:
I don't know what your setup is like, but natural perches of varying thicknesses are very good for birds feet, including nails. If you have mostly round, regular perches, there is much less exercise for the feet and much less wear on the nails, so they tend to overgrow. Some people put sandpaper on the dowel perches near the food, so the nails wear down more quickly. I prefer using a wide variety of different natural perches (trees, shrubs, grasses and brush I collect from the forest). I rarely need to trim nails; when I do it is mostly the weavers and sometimes the European finches.

Thirdly, the parrot finches:
I'm surprised that I am the first one to mention it, but it is generally considered unwise to house different parrotfinches together. There is a significant risk of hybridisation between the two, resulting in infertile offspring or 'genetic pollution' when the offspring are fertile. I am not sure how much of a risk this is for you, because I am not familiar with the 'redheaded parrotfinch'. Perhaps this is the one we call 'redfaced' in Australia, which is known as 'red throated' in Europe and much of the rest of the world? If so, the risk is relatively low (compared to bluefaced PFs with tricolor (or Tanimbar) parrot finches), and many would but I personally wouldn't house them together.

Finally a few questions: What is the aviary like? How much roof is covered? Is the floor dirt, sand, cement or something else?
How big is it? And could we please see photos of the paradise whydah and the crimson wings, as these birds are not available to us in Australia?

Toda raba.